How immigration is fuelling the growth of the Catholic Church in Sweden
This week's episode of Sweden in Focus Extra for Membership+ subscribers features an interview with Magdalena Dahlborg, an editor for a Swedish-language Catholic magazine.
Advertisement
How did the Catholic Church in Sweden recover from the brink of extinction and what role does it play in Swedish public life today?
The Local's deputy editor Becky Waterton raised these questions in a conversion she had recently with Magdalena Dahlborg about the history of the Catholic Church in Sweden.
Dahlborg is the author of a book on Catholicism and an editor for the Swedish Catholic magazine Signum.
In this episode she talks about the huge role immigrants have played in the growth of the church in recent decades, how important she thinks the church can be for helping immigrants to integrate in Sweden, and why she hopes the Swedish Cardinal Anders Arborelius isn't named as the new pope.
Membership+ subscribers can listen to the interview in the latest episode of Sweden in Focus Extra, out April 30th.
READ ALSO:
Get Membership+ to listen to all The Local's podcasts
Sweden in Focus Extra is a podcast for The Local's Membership+ subscribers.
Sign up to Membership+ now and get early, ad-free access to a full-length episode of the Sweden in Focus podcast every weekend, as well as Sweden in Focus Extra every Wednesday.
Please visit the link that applies to you and get a 40% discount on Membership+
Read more about Membership+ in our help centre.
Already have Membership+ but not receiving all the episodes? Go to the podcast tab on your account page to activate your subscription on a podcast platform. If you prefer to listen on the site, you can find all episodes at the bottom of our podcast page.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Local Sweden
19 minutes ago
- Local Sweden
Inside Sweden: Why we're asking members to help The Local
The Local's editor Emma Löfgren rounds up the biggest stories of the week in our Inside Sweden newsletter. Advertisement Hej, You may have noticed a new message to members from our co-founder, publisher and CEO, James Savage, at the bottom of articles this week. He writes: I would like to thank you for supporting The Local as a member. It's been absolutely crucial of late. But here's the thing: right now, we are facing challenges of a kind we have never experienced in our 21-year history. Global tech giants are eating up a bigger and bigger share of advertising budgets, while making us less and less visible on their platforms. That makes operating as a small player in an already challenging sector even more difficult, especially when costs are rising. Our mission has always been to help people living in another country feel at home, to champion your rights, to keep you in the loop. For us to keep doing that, we need your support. If you are able to support us further, please consider making a donation. You can click here and follow the steps to leave a donation amount that suits you. This will help keep us going and allow us to continue doing the journalism that matters to you. Every word of what James wrote is true. We've had one of our most important news cycles in the past few weeks, being the first and almost only media outlet to cover Sweden's citizenship freeze. But journalism costs money, and right now it's hard to break even as a relatively small newsroom in this world of tech giants and far bigger media actors – or even break through the noise of the domestic Swedish-language media. The biggest change in Sweden since the last election has been the government's so-called "migration paradigm shift", which has had a life-changing impact on many foreigners living and working in this country. Advertisement With just over a year to go until the next election – and less than a year until stricter citizenship laws, and possibly stricter work permit conditions, come into force – making sure those affected are actually heard in the public debate is more crucial than ever. I'd like to think we can make an impact together. Thank you for being a member. If you want to help but are not able to make a donation, please tell a friend about us and ask them to become a member. Any help we get can make a huge difference. To us as a media company, as journalists, but also to raising the voices of those who still believe in a hopeful, constructive and international vision for Sweden and the rest of the world. In other news Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, who chaired the agency managing adoptions to Sweden some 20 years ago, has said he's not ruling out an apology after an inquiry unveiled widespread abuses spanning several decades. With just over a year to go until Sweden's next election, a key poll suggests that the centre-left Social Democrats may take a decisive leap forward. Sweden's streets are filled with jubilant high school students. Why are they there, and what are they doing? This week's episode of Sweden in Focus Extra for Membership+ subscribers features an interview with Francisca Leonardo, founder of the tour company Xperience Stockholm. I really enjoyed my conversation with her. GAMES: Have you tried The Local's games for Membership+ subscribers yet? We've got a new crossword and word search puzzle out now A new agreement between Sweden and Estonia means that up to 600 criminals convicted in Sweden could serve time in prisons in Estonia, in what Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has described as a "historic" deal. Advertisement Foreign citizens are significantly over-represented in Swedish prisons. Here are some of the rules about how they should be treated. A government-commissioned inquiry this week proposed a series of suggestions that would make it cheaper to travel to Arlanda Airport. And finally, from summer activity tips to rail disruptions, here's everything you need to know about travelling in Sweden this summer. Have a good weekend, Emma Löfgren Editor, The Local Sweden Inside Sweden is our weekly newsletter for members which gives you news, analysis and, sometimes, takes you behind the scenes at The Local. It's published each Saturday and with Membership+ you can also receive it directly to your inbox.
Local Sweden
2 days ago
- Local Sweden
Sweden's Constitution Committee criticises government for citizenship slowdown
KU, the Swedish parliament's constitution committee, has criticised the leaders of all three government parties for writing an article in a Swedish newspaper calling for a slowdown or stop in granting Swedish citizenship applications. Advertisement On November 29th, the three governing parties of Sweden's right-wing coalition and the Sweden Democrats published an opinion piece in the Dagens Nyheter newspaper titled 'It should be harder to become a Swedish citizen'. The parties pledged in the article to 'as much as possible, take measures to stop more Swedish citizenships from being granted until new rules are in place', hinting that they would take steps to get the Migration Agency to slow down the processing of citizenship applications. They did not explicitly say how they would do so, but the government did in January order the Migration Agency to make extra efforts to identify potential security threats in citizenship cases. These security checks, which came into force on April 1st, led to a near two-month freeze in citizenship applications this spring, and have slowed down the process of issuing new citizenships by forcing all applicants to attend in-person ID checks before their applications can be granted. READ ALSO: The Green Party reported the government to the Constitution Committee for ministerstyre or ministerial governance ‒ essentially, individual ministers trying to influence or meddle in the affairs of a public agency. Advertisement
Local Sweden
2 days ago
- Local Sweden
Swedish PM 'not ruling out' state apology to international adoptees
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, who chaired the agency managing adoptions to Sweden some 20 years ago, has said he's not ruling out an apology after an inquiry unveiled widespread abuses spanning several decades. Advertisement Kristersson told the TT news agency that he's not ruling out an official state apology to international adoptees, after the government-appointed inquiry sharply criticised previous state inaction on adoptions under questionable circumstances. The investigation, led by civil law professor Anna Singer, found evidence of child trafficking in about ten cases, mostly from the 1970s and 80s. In many more cases, parental consent was missing or poorly documented. It proposed banning all international adoptions. It was launched in 2021 after reports surfaced of children stolen from countries such as Chile, China, and South Korea. Kristersson himself has been caught up at the centre of scandal, as he served as chair of Adoptionscentrum, the organisation arranging international adoptions to Sweden, between 2003 and 2005. "The information there is now didn't exist at the time, it has emerged afterwards," he told TT. He said that he welcomed the inquiry commission's report. "It's incredibly important that this work has been done. There's a great number of proposals from the commission which we are now going to study very carefully," he said. "The government isn't ruling anything out."
